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Went to an Auction

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Went to an Auction

#1

Went to an Auction

Todd Hughes

>Went to a local auction sat. that had a good many tools, large table with maybe 50 planes and bunch of saws and etc.Main thing was a collection of a few hundered tractor seats which are a mystery to me.I had checked it out a week befor the auction and wasn't to impressed but went anyway since it was right up the street from my Girl's place. Not many people maybe 20 guys interested in the tools.I knew a good many and didn't see much competition really.3 or 4 guys who knew somthing with one old Stanley collector who I figured could give me the most trouble.Had some little unusual hammers but mostly in rough condition and they went fair to high mostly to a couple Antique dealers who bought just stupid. A cheny nail holding hammer,[rather common] that was missing the balls and spring in the handle went for $20 while a complete one sold for $17.He later bought a 605 with a busted off frog , bad wood with the wrong lever cap for $35 and told me it was a $200 plane...Yea OK..Lots of stuff had condition problims which i just try not to buy anymore.There was a box full of parts, had about 15 Stanley 78 fences and depth stops and a pile of etc. I was ready to go $200 and got it for $20! next was a box of about 30 plow plane irons which I got for the same price.There were a few rough Keen Kutter junk which as always at these local sales went high.Put up a lot of planes buyer choice and in it was a nice prelaterial no.3,[wrong tote and blade] I went to $55 befor droping out and the high bidder to my amazement grabbed a dog meat Keen Kutter no. 4! Next round I felt a little bad about bidding against this guy that had shown me the pre laterial so only went to $30 and let him get it.Best plane there was a beautiful early 1900 4 1/2C. I really wanted this plane because it was in such excellent condition.Me and the old collector went head to head and he got it for $150...OH well.I did pick up a type one knuckle cap, a 60 low angle,a couple star capped block planes, few unusual patened scrapers, and some wooden compass planes plus a good bit more all on the cheap. Neatest thing i got was an unusual and very fancey Gun Metal dowel maker.Never seen any thing like it befor.....Passed on a 12 1/2 and a belt makers plane which maybe i should have bought, they went cheap,[around $30] but were a little rough. A wooden Gage plane went for $20, should have snagged it.Strange thing was No chisels were sold.Lots of saws but nothing very special....oh well had a good time and bought OK I thought......Todd

Re: Went to an Auction

#2

#78 parts

Mike Lietzow

>Howdy Todd,

I can easily understand $20 for "about 15 Stanley 78 fences and depth stops and a pile of etc.", maybe even $100; but $200? That doesn't seem like a Toddly deal even in "old tool heck." Am I missing something here? What do they typically go for on da Bay?

Cheers,

Mike

btw: What do ou plan to do with all of those tractor seats? :-)

Re: Went to an Auction

#3

Re: #78 parts

Ernie Miller Topeka

>The last fence and rod I sold was $23 I think Todd get a little more than me with his record of sales. I don't think he bought the tractor seats but if he did they will be out the door as riding a tractor qualifies as work and that stuff don't stick to him.

Re: Went to an Auction

#4

Hate too....

Jonathan Peck - N.Y.

>....be a vulture, but iffen any of those #78 fences looks like it might be a #289 fence....and you might be willing to part with the part....

Nice haul, and as they say...parts is parts

Regards

Jonathan - who has paid more than that for one measley part

Re: Went to an Auction

#5

Re: #78 parts

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>There is a pretty big difference in value between a #78 with all it's parts and one missing parts, as most people realize how difficult it is to find parts. I guess it's not hard to find parts if you have deep pockets, but finding them cheap is nearly impossible.

Re: Went to an Auction

#6

Re: #78 parts

Mike Lietzow

>Interesting. I'd guess that the plane body (i.e. the plane w/out fence, rod, and possibly depth stop) are only going for $20-25. So, in the current market, the fence feature is worth about as much as the plane itself. Kinda makes me wonder why so many previous owners dispensed with the fences (and often times the depth stops too) in the first place.

Cheers,

Mike

Re: Went to an Auction

#7

Re: #78 parts

Todd Hughes

>I sort of figured roughly $15 ea. on avarage for the fences which comes out to around $200, then the depth stops At $10 ea. for $150 which brings it to $350 had lots of other parts such as a couple small depth stops that might be for a 289 or 238,[havent checked yet] blades and scrapers and all kinds of other goodies. I really like selling parts because they are in demand and easy to ship. Guess most of the other auction goers saw a box of junk where I saw a box with 4 or 5 hundered dollar bills in it......Todd

Re: Went to an Auction

#8

No Tractor seats

Todd Hughes

>But they are kind of neat.I have a good Amish friend that collects them,[along with about 1,000 blow torches] and they are a real mystery to me. He will point to one seat and tell me it is worth $900 and just looks like nothing while a fancy one he tells me is worth maybe $50 all depends what they came off.

Last week at my Wed. auction they had the seat and pedal assembly with fly wheel for a Barnes foot powered piece of equipment. I think maybe a treadle lathe but don't know because that piece was missing.I didn't want to be there when it sold so i wouldn't be tempted to buy it so I went inside to eat ice cream, was neat but heavy.Amish friend turned out got it for $30 mainly because he wanted the big cast iron seat......Todd

Re: Went to an Auction

#9

Re: #78 parts

William Duffield on the Cohansey

>Sounds like Todd kinda stumbled onto the Elephant's Graveyard here.

Evidently there is not a barn full of old tractors without seats collecting rust anywhere near the Dead Horse Forge. Shipping on those things, unlike depth stops and fences ank nickers, would be a killer. I've got one hanging up in my shop, waiting for the roundtuit to build a bent lamination base for it and turn it into a bar stool. You've probably seen modern versions in plastic and primary colors at IKEA. Problem here is sometimes I'm moving something large around the shop, and I bump into the tractor seat, and, like Pooh's jaguar, it drops on me. Ouch! At this point, I don't need any more than one.

Re: Went to an Auction

#10

Re: #78 parts

Tom MacGregor

>I can understand looking for the original vintage parts for a collector grade piece, but is there any reason not to use new ones on a user? Stanley still sells two "kits" of 78 parts with a list price of $10 each. One has the lever cap, depth gauge and hardware; the other has the fence, rod and thumb screw. Their hand tool parts catalog can be downloaded in PDF format from their main site.

Re: Went to an Auction

#11

Re: #78 parts

Ernie Miller Topeka

>In the last year I have found more 78 fences and depth stops in boxes at sales that 78's with out the nose busted off. when you find the most people don't know what they are and let you have them cheap 25� or so. so look in them boxes.

Re: Went to an Auction

#12

Could be wrong....

Todd Hughes

>but i have heard that the screws from Stanley today will not fit the older planes as the threads are different.Have had people tell me that the new 78's are metric....Don't have any first hand experance and am just passing on what I have been told from sombody that ordered them.Think the acutual fence or depth stop would work fine.....Todd

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